I'm not talking about wanting to have all of Georgette Heyer's books to read. I'm talking about buying several copies of all of Georgette Heyer's books, one paperback, one hardcover, and one set to loan. That's a collector. Somebody who wants all of something, or as much of it as they can get. Somebody who may never look at, read, handle, or listen to everything they've got, yet relishes the sheer knowledge that they possess it. I said may; some people are quite involved with their collections, showing them off, displaying them, etc. But an awful lot, especially book collectors, just keep the things around in boxes for some nebulous future date when they'll want to look at what they own.

Now I do, in fact, have complete runs of certain comic books, and all of certain authors' output. Why aren't I a collector? Because I didn't set out to buy it all for the future. I wanted to read what I bought, and I kept it after I read it. I didn't start looking for other series to buy. I didn't buy duplicates, to sell in case they got valuable. You're getting the drift, I know. Mainly, though, the reason I'm certain I'm not a collector is that I give away a great deal of what I buy. If I don't like a book, it goes to someone else. If I don't like a comic, it doesn't matter if it's extremely cool to own it, I'll stop buying it and give the others to Goodwill. And out of nearly a thousand books in my personal library (accumulated over 39 years, mind you) I have read all but 17. I just looked up at my "unread" section and counted, that's how I know. The others have been read, and read, and read.

Some of my friends have amazing stuff that they got in thrift shops and yard sales over the years. Quite a few of them are experts on what they collect. I sort of admire this, but I just can't bring myself to buy up clutter. Deep in my soul, I have a horror of kipple. It's like someone who once had to live on macaroni and cheese, and now cannot face the stuff. I used to move several times a year, and often with no notice. I hated leaving anything behind, hated losing track of my possessions, and really hated feeling so attached to mere things when I could barely keep a roof over my head. Now I look at a cute tchotchka and think, "It'll just collect dust. The cats will break it. I don't need it. I'd rather save the money and buy more memory for my computer."

See, that's what collecting really is about. Priorities. What fun stuff do you want, and what fun stuff are you willing to pay for? Me, I always want fun stuff that costs a lot: computer memory, trips to Japan, original artwork. I can't afford to collect the big stuff, and I refuse to collect the little stuff. In the end, I have a lot of great travel stories, a lot of great art on the walls, and this web page. Maybe that's what I'm collecting, after all.

Memories.